So Much to Live For

Shoka, naturally, couldn't have been more excited when Rindo proposed to her when they were both twenty-two.

They'd been dating a long time now, and it was totally than clear that they were perfect for each other—what with Shoka selling a makeup products and Rindo being a voice to the people that guys were clearly allowed to wear the stuff, too... and for a million other reasons, of course.

But Shoka was out bridal dress shopping—looking at a lovely black dress that was very Morticia Adams, that she adored—when a sobering thought struck her:

Rindo had recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness… Though the prognosis looked good, since they'd caught it early on, and there were so many new cocktails, that should have been able to combat it easily. But Shoka was afraid that Rindo had only proposed to her, because he didn't think he had any time left.

She was going to kick his ass, if that was the case! If he wasn't planning on loving her every day of forever, she swore!

Running to where Rindo was set to be having one of his motivational speeches in the Scramble right now—from where she had been at 104, looking at Gatto Nero's very rare wedding dress lineup—Shoka heard Rindo ending a speech with, "And you've got to make sure that if that's going to be your all, that you give it your all!" and she knew she'd seen everything that she needed to, right there.

Shoka filed backstage, while Rindo thanked everyone for coming to see him-a big smile on his face as he did so-and she ate a few tasty veggie treats before she accosted him.

"Rindo, what the hell!" she snapped, grabbing his arm rather tightly. "What?! You think you're going to die, so that's why you proposed to me? And since 'you're dying' that's why you're telling everyone to be their all while they can?!"

To Rindo's credit, he had smiled at Shoka the moment he saw her here. And he didn't stop smiling even now, as she hurled these insults at him.

And he must have realized he couldn't have denied these claims if she'd heard the latter, because Rindo pulled Shoka into his arms-which wasn't fair in the slightest; it was far too comforting, Shoka nearly growled out—as he looked her in the eyes. "I-I'm just trying to be realistic here, Shoka. And I realize my time might be limited. So, I want to marry you while I can, do you understand?"

And Rindo was continuing to be distracting, as he kissed Shoka's hand now. And things with hands had been a thing between them, since Shoka had started putting reassuring hands atop Rindo's, to let him know she was being real with him about wanting to stop Shiba. But Shoka fought through her sudden distractions enough to say, "You mean you're giving up! What happened to the Rindo who thought the Wicked Twisters could win the Reapers' Game, even though the rigged rules said otherwise? Or the one who fought to save his friends from the Plague Noise, even when he knew turning back the clock would make things worse? Because right now, you're sounding more like Motoi than anything else."

Motoi: who Rindo had looked up to so much, only to let him down. Motoi, who had become so convinced he couldn't win, he hadn't really even tried in that second week with the Twisters, and had given in to dirty-handed tactics.

Rindo gasped at Shoka's words—and Shoka hated having had to say them—but she knew that if Rindo had a shot at fighting this Cancer (and he did. He so did!), he needed to see why accepting it wasn't an option.

And Rindo must have seen that, too, because he kissed the top of Shoka's head and made her blush. And that in turn, made her pound him on the chest with her fist once.

"Thanks for setting me straight, Shoka. I can do this... we can do this. And I'll spend as many days with you as humanly possible."

"You'd better!" Shoka encouraged him. And as she and RIndo were now hugging—with Shoka's face leaning against his phone in his coat pocket—she knew that they would.

Because, sounding a bit like Nagi here, they had so much more FanGo to play together, after all. And much more, too.

So much more.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the angst, guys! I was trying to come up with a second Rindo and Shoka fic… and this was the muse gave me. Obviously, I don't want Rindo to die in the slightest. So, he completely goes into remission and everything is hunky-dory. He and Shoka get all the days in the world together (with their friends), like they deserve:)